Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue. Having looked at this White Paper, I believe it is not a White Paper at all. It is, in fact, a Green Paper simply dressed up. While the policy statement that, in future, access to health services will be based on medical need alone is obviously welcome, there is little or no detail to allow for a forensic examination of the actual proposal. Therefore, we are at a huge disadvantage.

This appears to introduce what is effectively an additional tax on the public, a tax on top of the local property tax and the water tax, so we will now have a third health tax. There is even a difficulty in regard to that because the Minister, Deputy Reilly, suggests it will be in the region of €900 to €1,000 per person, while the Minister, Deputy Howlin, says it will be in the region of €1,600 per person.

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